Porto Design Biennale. Events to look forward to. Check them out!

The first edition of Porto Design Biennale (PDB) 2019 runs from19th September to 17th November. This is the first time that Portugal organises a Biennale with the purpose of promoting the internationalisation of design creative thinking.

Porto Design Biennale is hosted by Porto and Matosinhos "because these two cities brought the practice of design into the core of their cultural strategy", as explained by Mayor of Porto and President of the PDB Board, Rui Moreira.

PDB suggests manifold activities, to be held in several venues in the cities of Porto and Matosinhos. Know that the activities' programme features five exhibitions openings, two installations, two workshop cycles, a performative conference and a debate on digital culture.

The feature theme of the 1st Porto Design Biennale is "Post Millennium Tension 2019" and the focus in on contemporaneity and urban environment.

This event kicked off with the official inauguration of the exhibition "Millennials - Design do Novo Milénio", at Porto Municipal Gallery, on 18th September.

The "Millennials" exhibition is on show till 17th November at Porto Municipal Gallery and the main goal is to showcase the first two decades of contemporary design, namely authorship and the materialization of design projects.

Operating hours are from Tuesday to Saturday, between 10am and 6pm, and on Sundays starting at 2pm.

Also, Porto Metro Stations host "Design and Democracy research workshops", curated by Francisco Laranjo, from 10th to 15th October.

These series of residencies, themed Design Systems, aim to boost the need to investigate thinking systems and how do they relate to design, whether by structure or behaviour.

Just as exciting is the collateral event "Present tense, Hard design ? the children of Eos and Arachne's loo", curated by Eduardo Côrte-Real.

This installation is on display at Avenida dos Aliados, Porto, on 14th October and at Florbela Espanca Municipal Library, Matosinhos, on 24th October (entrance is free).

Through this installation, PDB raises audiences' awareness on the issue of industrial design, namely how do traditional and industrial production correlate and how are both combined.

Another not-to-miss event is the conference on digital culture: Black Box ? Stories of the future. This debate extends beyond the PDB schedule and it will be held on 4th December, at Rivoli.

 "What is there to be learnt from the past? What are the rules? What are the informational aesthetics? What can be digitally fabricated?". These are the main questions to be addressed during the debate, attended by renowned design experts, architects, artists and theorists.
Black Box is curated by Isa Clara Neves and Jorge Figueira. 

Porto Design Biennale 2019 first edition is curated by José Bártolo and seeks to trace the projects and work processes by the Millennials, aka Generation Y or the Net Generation, usually named this way to refer to individuals who reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century, in a framework of accelerated tensions at global level, be it identity wise, geopolitical, financial, environmental and technological.

The Biennale is aimed at developing and internationalising design thinking and the role of design in the face of emerging challenges. The PDB is jointly promoted by Porto City Hall and Matosinhos City Hall, it is organised by the esad-idea - Research in Design and Art.

See here for more information on Porto Design Biennale programme.